Any opinions/experience on the deal in which you order the finished doors
along with "sticky paneling" ? The company Home Depot uses is Quality
Doors.

They claim an average kitchen (10 by 10) can be done for about $1500. Of
course, this is *much* cheaper than having someone reface the cabinets.

In particular, my wife is concerned that they "sticky paneling" that you put
on the cabinet frames would look/feel cheap or come unstuck on the corners.

Thanks

"S" wrote in message
. ..
Any opinions/experience on the deal in which you order the finished doors
along with "sticky paneling" ? The company Home Depot uses is Quality
Doors.

They claim an average kitchen (10 by 10) can be done for about $1500. Of
course, this is *much* cheaper than having someone reface the cabinets.

In particular, my wife is concerned that they "sticky paneling" that you
put on the cabinet frames would look/feel cheap or come unstuck on the
corners.

Methinks your wife is wise. Never seen a refacing job, even a pro one, that
impressed me. I'm sure they are out there somewhere, but I've never seen
one. And as soon as you open the doors, the illusion is destroyed.

I'm not a fan of refacing- cabinets aren't that hard of a DIY project to
switch out, if you can track down a good deal on stock sizes that work for
your kitchen. If the old ones are nicked up beyond cleaning and topcoating
to bring the finish back, there is always paint, like on the trendy
decorating shows. That could tide you over till the buget can stand new
cabinets. And then you have the old ones to use in the garage or basement,
or to donate to Habitat ReStore.

I got lucky. This place had a horrible DIY swabbed-on red finish on the
cabinets, and I had resigned myself to live with it (no woman in the house,
natch), until I was windexing the over-the-stove microwave the other day,
and a little overspray got on the cabinets. Damned if the red stuff isn't
water-based, and the original finish basically intact underneath. So, come
warm weather, I'll pull all the doors/drawers and take them outside, and
wash that crud off in as dry a fashion as possible, and do the same thing on
the exposed face frames and end caps inside. Then, a light sanding and a
wipedown with gel Minwax or something, and I'll have cabinets that are at
least presentable. They won't look like new, but it will be cheap, and since
these are Solid Wood 1960 cabinets, new ones of the same quality level are
beyond my reach.

aem sends....

On Sat, 3 Mar 2007 16:31:39 -0800, "S" wrote:

Any opinions/experience on the deal in which you order the finished doors
along with "sticky paneling" ? The company Home Depot uses is Quality
Doors.
In particular, my wife is concerned that they "sticky paneling" that you put
on the cabinet frames would look/feel cheap or come unstuck on the corners.

I've seen these, and when they're done right, they hold up quite well.

However, in my opinion, they do look and feel slightly cheap. You can
see the seams ("miters") on the corners, and they don't look like wood
joints.

Can you wait to save $$ for the real thing?

On Sat, 3 Mar 2007 16:31:39 -0800, someone wrote:

They claim an average kitchen (10 by 10) can be done for about $1500. Of
course, this is *much* cheaper than having someone reface the cabinets.

It's much cheaper and looks it.

What's important to ya?


Reply to NG only - this e.mail address goes to a kill file.

"KLS" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 3 Mar 2007 16:31:39 -0800, "S" wrote:

Any opinions/experience on the deal in which you order the finished doors
along with "sticky paneling" ? The company Home Depot uses is Quality
Doors.
In particular, my wife is concerned that they "sticky paneling" that you
put
on the cabinet frames would look/feel cheap or come unstuck on the
corners.

I've seen these, and when they're done right, they hold up quite well.

However, in my opinion, they do look and feel slightly cheap. You can
see the seams ("miters") on the corners, and they don't look like wood
joints.

Can you wait to save $$ for the real thing?

We could afford it at this point; we're just looking at different options:

1. sand and paint/stain everything ourselves
2. hire someone to do the above
3. the "Quality Doors" route
4. hire someone to do a complete refacing
5. new cabinets

We never really considered 5) but now I've heard that it's not much more
than 4). Also, we are considering new counters so 5) might make sense in
that case.

The sad thing is that a lot of the cabinetry looks fine; it's the areas
below the counter that are worn from when people wipe the counter. I think
the previous owner used a bleach spray so I'm sure that accelerated the
decay. We don't use bleach but the wet rag hanging over surely wears on the
finish.

One more question: anyone like stain vs. paint or vice-versa?

Thanks